Tributes to tragic teen footballer
BY KATHLEEN SPEIRS TRIBUTES have been paid to a promising young Scots footballer who died suddenly.
News of Matthew Rickis’ tragic death broke on Saturday night, with friends and former team-mates flooding social media with messages..
The under-19 football star, from Armadale, West Lothian, was hailed as “genuine, caring and lovable” by devastated loved ones.
The talented teen, known as Matty, played for Broxburn Athletic Colts Football Club.
A representative from the club paid tribute to their “much-loved” team mate.
A representative from the club paid tribute to their “much-loved” team-mate.
Star player Matthew was due to start a football scholarship in the US in August.
COLD case detectives in the US have launched a new investigation into the brutal murder of a Scottish nurse at a US religious college 30 years ago.
Elizabeth Mackintosh, 50, was found beaten, strangled with a cord and stabbed in the neck in the toilet of a chapel at the Covenant Theological Seminary in Creve Coeur, Missouri, in March 1990.
Elizabeth, the daughter of a former Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland, was
BY STUART MacDONALD reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk originally from Edinburgh and was studying at the seminary for a degree in counselling. Police launched a major murder probe at the time of her death but no one has ever been brought to justice for the killing. The Creve Coeur Police Department is now working with three retired detectives who originally investigated the case in a bid to crack it. They have sifted through every piece of evidence collected over the past three decades and are preparing to carry out searches.
The ex-detectives are hopeful that advances in DNA technology could allow charges to be brought in the near future.
Elizabeth worked as a cleaner at the college to earn money while studying and was attacked while cleaning the men’s toilets in the chapel. There was no sign of sexual assault.
Glenn Eidman, Creve Coeur’s chief of police, said: “Elizabeth Mackintosh was found murdered inside the men’s bathroom of the Rayburn Chapel on the Covenant Theological Seminary Campus on March 26, 1990.
“She was in the process of cleaning the men’s restroom when she was attacked and killed. The Major Case Squad was activated and several persons of interest were questioned. No arrests were made and the case remains unsolved to this day.
“In January 2020, three retired Creve Coeur Police Department captains expressed interest in working on the case on a volunteer basis. All three of them worked on the homicide when it took place in 1990.
“They have worked many hours going over evidence, reading reports and formulating new ideas that will hopefully solve the case.
“They are in the process of drafting more search warrants with the assistance of Detective Doug Manninger and the St
Louis Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.”
Elizabeth’s brother Sinclair, 82, of Dornoch, Sutherland, said: “The police have been very good and I’m aware of the work they are doing putting fresh eyes on the whole situation.
“They have still got Elizabeth very much in the forefront of their minds, there is no doubt about that.
“It’s been a tragedy and to get some closure would help.”
George Hodak, one of the retired detectives on the cold case team, said: “This is the only unsolved case of homicide in Creve Coeur’s history.
“It’s a policeman’s nightmare to have a murder suspect still running around out there and you can’t do anything about it.”